Red piece of material found in creek bed in William Tyrrell search

Investigators sifting through tonnes of dirt have found a new item in their hunt for missing William Tyrrell.

Investigators searching for the remains of William Tyrrell have plucked a faded red piece of material from a drained creek, as police home in on the muddy waterway in their hunt to solve the little boy’s disappearance.

Police began Monday afternoon digging through the mud of a new section of pumped-out creek under the watchful eye of Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, the man who has helmed the investigation into the boy’s disappearance for the past two years.

Shortly after 3.30pm investigators tunnelling through the dirt came across the red piece of fabric, which was pulled from the base of a tree and placed in an evidence bag for forensic examinations – creating a brief stir as the missing boy was last photographed in a red and black Spider-Man suit which has now become synonymous with the case.

Investigators searching for William Tyrrell found a piece of fabric in a drained creek bed in their search.

Rural Fire Service volunteers earlier in the day worked to pump out the new section of creek, east of the Batar Creek Road on the outskirts of Kendall, as riot squad police pushed deeper into the bush in the background in the search for clues.

The search team returned to rake through the thick mud of the creek bed for any clues which might finally crack the case of the missing boy.

In a busy 22nd day of the renewed search, forensic police also used a laser-guided mapping device on a tripod to scan the search site and provide an in-depth digital map of the area which can be viewed from a laptop screen – useful for pinpointing the progress made through the large search area.

Detectives and forensic experts have been hampered by heavy overnight rain in the last few days, which has made their job of sifting through tonnes of dirt more difficult. William went missing from his foster grandmother’s property on Benaroon Drive, Kendall, on the Mid North Coast in September 2014.